


The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

by mezzosesu



Series: Femslash February 2019, Better known as: The month in which I cry over adorable women dating women [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Banter, Day 14: White, F/F, Femslash February, I'd say they're somewhere in the 50s age range, Pre-Canon, Set after the mentioned Cashew incident, Spoilers: Volume 6 (RWBY), Surprise Kissing, cute old ladies, kinda???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 08:36:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17784101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mezzosesu/pseuds/mezzosesu
Summary: Maria would rather be sitting around at home, but of course she needs to get to her mechanic in Atlas to fix her prosthetic eyes, and to do that she has to go through Argus. At least she'll get to see that angry military officer on her way.If only she knew ahead of time that Cordovin placed her on the additional screening list.





	The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentines day everyone!
> 
> When I was watching through Volume 6 of RWBY, I remember seeing Maria and Caroline interact for the first time and thinking, 'Man I ship these two so hard'. So as I was drafting out pairings to write for FemslashFeb, I made it my business to include these adorable ladies ahahaha

Maria sighs, her chin nestled into the heel of her palm as she watches the scenery from her seat at the window. Her train to Argus has reached the mountainous part of its journey, giving Maria a beautiful viewing of snow covering the landscape in a thick blanket of white as far as the eye could see.

She glances to her left at the rest of her train car, mechanical eyes clicking loudly in her skull as her prosthetics work to accurately portray the scene. Her eyes are operating at a good ninety percent capacity, giving her a full view of the other passengers conversing, wrangling children, or just keeping to themselves. It would be almost perfect...if she could see any other colors besides white, black, and shades of grey. But alas, the mechanism responsible for the color processing completely shorted out last week, casting a monochromatic filter to her world.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, Maria isn’t sure yet), her eyes tend to do this every few years, making this trip to fix them a standard occurrence. She’s done it so many times, she could even do it blind if needed.

“Better than yesterday, at least,” she mutters, tapping the goggles angrily. She would rather be at home, sitting around and gazing in wonder at the fresh splashes of bright silver in her hair roots (a miracle in and of itself based on the typical lifespan of a Huntress, nevermind her harrowing near-death experience(s)), but well, she needs to get to her mechanic in Atlas to do that, and the only way to Atlas was by an Argus transport.

The upside of all this is that she’ll be able to see Caroline Cordovin, one of the commanding officers at the Altesian Military Base there. She is a lovely woman by Maria’s standards: short, feisty, and full of rage. The best part of her trips by far was winding Cordo--one of the more tame nicknames Maria has for her--up with harmless insults and playful banter, which only seemed to get easier as she got older. She lives for the tiny pout on Cordovin’s lips every time she showed up, the frustrated screams when Maria really got under her skin, and her angry stomping when she got fed up and decided to leave.

“I’ll have to figure out how to get her this time,” Maria chuckles to herself, pulling her jacket over her shoulders and settling down for a quick doze.

* * *

After grabbing her luggage and deboarding the train, Maria hustles over to the Altesian base. She alerts the guards on watch of her transport request and waits until she sees Cordovin approach the gate, arms crossed over her pristine white military jacket and glare in full force. Maria smiles to herself and thinks that wow, Cordo hasn’t changed a bit.

Since she’s too distracted trying to turn Maria to stone with her gaze, Maria decides to start the conversation. “...Cordo.”

Cordovin’s eye twitches at the nickname, but a bit of the tension in her arms recedes. “Calavera.”

“I see you've started to shrink, getting old already?”

“Says the one growing grey hair.”

Maria laughs, open and unabashed. “I think it makes me look very distinguished! When it turns fully grey maybe it’ll hide all my wrinkles, like yours does.”

“I--” Cordovin doesn’t comment further, and instead moves her hands to her hips, sneering up at Maria through the steel gate.  “So, what do you want? I’m very busy and don’t have time to deal with the riff-raff.”

Maria gestures to her goggles. “The usual, just looking for passage to Atlas for a few repairs, then I’ll be out of your way so you can get up to...whatever it is you do here. Your superiors really trust you running this place?”

Cordovin arches a brow and stares in silence. The wind begins to pick up, pulling small strands of Maria’s hair out of her messy braid and whipping it in her face. She brushes the flyaway hair back behind her ear. Her mechanical eyes narrow slightly as she tries to piece together why Cordovin hasn’t risen to her bait or said anything at all. “Hey, is your hearing starting to go too, hag? I said--”

“I know what you said,” Cordovin’s sharp voice interrupts her. “Do you remember what transpired during your last trip?”

“I...came here?” Maria frowns as she thinks of her last visit. It was an ordinary journey as far as she was concerned. She got off the train, hustled to the gate, ~~flirted~~ argued with Cordovin until the transport came, and then proceeded to Atlas. “Nothing out of the ordinary happened...well, I do recall having some tasty cashews.”

“Yes, cashews. Cashews that _weren’t allowed onboard_.”

“Come _on,_ it’s not like outside food could ruin the ‘delicate’ atmosphere of Atlas or anything.”

Cordovin’s hair nearly stands on end as her mouth tightens into a hard grimace. “Atlas is a perfect, high-end society where all the food and produce is sourced in-house by experienced botanists and food scientists. Even the cattle are strictly watched and bred to create a perfect cut of meat every time. With such an amazing tightly-run production, just one blip in the system can cause a chain reaction that could topple the entire infrastructure!”

Cordovin takes in a deep breath to contain herself, prompting Maria to look up from her very important task of checking her nails. “Oh, are you done? Sorry, I get bored when you preach at me. Still don’t quite understand how my snack correlates to the trip today.”

“It _means_ that I have placed you on the additional screening list.”

“What?!” Maria yells. She stomps up to the gate and presses her face to the cold metal, glaring down at Cordo. “Are you kidding me?! That takes forever!”

Cordovin laughs, giving her a sly look. “Should’ve followed the rules.”

Gritting her teeth, Maria curses silently. If she were in better health, she could have taken on this entire base and stole a transport vehicle. It’s not like being on the additional screening list is terrible, all things considered, but she hates being one-upped by _Cordovin_ of all people. She considers just forgoing her trip altogether, but her failing vision is a nuisance that she really needed to fix.

“Fine, let’s just get this over with.”

 

Maria drops off her luggage with two surprisingly similar-looking guards as instructed, then she heads for the main building on the base. Cordovin leads her down a large, bright hallway and directs her into a spare room. She turns on the lights as Maria glances around. The room is nearly bare, save for a singular table pushed up against the wall. The blinds cover a wide window to her left, preventing Maria from seeing how easy it would be to escape if the need presented itself.

...Not like she could, anyway.

She turned back to Cordovin and crosses her arms, intent on showing just how fed up she is with the whole situation. “Now what, she-devil?”

Cordovin grins, looking all too happy for Maria’s tastes. “Now it’s time to do a search.”

“You have _got_ to be kidding me,” Maria deadpans. Cordovin’s smile only grows wider, eliciting a heavy sigh from Maria. “What kind of search?”

“A simple pat-down.”

“Why couldn’t we do this outside?”

“Please. I am a noble officer who cares about the privacy of others. Wouldn’t you rather go through this without prying eyes watching you?”

Maria doesn’t want to admit it, but she has a point there. “Isn’t there anyone else that can do this?”

“I’m the only woman on base with enough clearance to facilitate this, so it’s either me or a man.”

As much as Maria is frustrated with the situation, she would much rather have Cordovin doing this than someone she didn’t know. “Ugh, fine.”

Cordovin claps her hands together. “Delightful! Finally, you have enough sense to follow orders. Please take off your jacket and then I can begin.”

Grumbling, Maria does as she is told, removing her jacket and placing it on the spare table, leaving her clad in her sleeveless dress. She spreads her arms in displeasure, preparing for the next part. “Ready when you are.”

Cordovin steps closer while tugging her crisp, white gloves off and placing them in her jacket pocket. The first touch of her bare hands against Maria’s skin is electric, and through the haze of her previous ire, Maria remembers her small attraction to the small woman. Before she can really dwell on it, Cordovin pinches her bicep. “The muscle is really developed here.”

Maria shrugs. Her past isn’t anyone’s business but her own, and she prefers to keep it that way. Cordovin doesn’t comment on her silence and continues to work, brushing her fingers across the length of Maria’s arms and following the curve of her body down. Here her hands seem to go slower, to linger over Maria’s sides, and Maria can’t resist commenting on it.

“Captivated by my shapely figure, Cordo? Must be enviable with all the sagging.”

Cordo nearly jumps out of her skin as she realizes what she’s doing and a dark flush overtakes her face. “D-don’t be so vain, I’m just distracted by all the fat here is all.” She quickly removes her hands from Maria and takes a step back, casting her eyes to the side in embarrassment. “I’m all done here. You can fetch your things from my subordinates and be on your way.”

Maria, instead of grabbing her jacket and leaving like she should, moves closer to Cordovin. Somehow she found a chink in Cordovin’s armor, and she wasn’t going to leave without seeing what was behind it. “I’m not so sure I believe you, Cordo,” she purrs, taking a step into Cordovin’s space and brushing her hand against her cheek. “Are you sure you don’t have anything else to say?”

“Of course not! What else could I have to say to you?” Cordovin backs up away quickly from Maria, back colliding with the door as her cheeks flushed harder. It’s a shame that her color receptors aren’t working because Maria really wanted to see Cordo’s face washed in red.

“Oh, I don’t know--” Maria take another step forward and brushes a lock of hair back--”Maybe how in love with me you are?” Did Maria actually think Cordovin liked her? No, of course not. She was likely just embarrassed by the situation in general.  

At least, that’s what Maria thinks at first. However, based on the way Cordovin’s eyes widen when she suggests it, maybe Maria needs to re-evaluate that answer.

“Are you daft?!” Cordovin squeaks. “There’s no way I could be attracted to someone like you!”

“I don’t know, your words and actions don’t match up. You say you aren’t attracted to me, yet you’re blushing quite hard.”

“I’m blushing from anger!”

“You’re so worked up it sounds like your heart is running a marathon.”

“It’s because I’m trying to figure out how in the world you came up with the idea that _I_ could be in love with _you_!”

“Lucky for you, I could be persuaded to put myself back on the market for you. You’re cute enough to match my specifications in a partner--”

Cordovin claps her hands over her ears and shuts her eyes. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

Maria continues on, elated over the fact that she’s finally found something to really grind Cordovin’s gears with. “I don’t plan on moving anytime soon, so you’d have to come visit me in my humble little abode. Wow, I still just can’t believe that Caroline Cordovin, high-ranking military officer and proclaimed Atlas aficionado, fell in love with a stumpy old no-name woman like me- _-_ ”

Cordovin’s lips pressing against hers interrupt the rest of Maria’s sentence, and before she can pull away Cordovin wraps her arms against Maria’s waist, bringing her in closer. Caught off-guard, all Maria can do is surrender to the situation, lowering her arms to Cordovin’s shoulders and returning the kiss.

Cordovin’s lips are soft, which surprises Maria. She imagines that being outside for long periods of time would make her skin coarse, but it’s the opposite. Maybe it has to do with the fruity chapstick she tastes. She feels down Cordovin’s arms, flicking her tongue out to explore, and the hands at her behind freeze up.

Just as soon as the kiss starts, Cordovin ends it, pulling Maria off her with a gasp. They stare at each other as they regain the ability to breathe.

“Don’t read into that!” Cordovin protests before Maria can comment. “I simply wanted you to shut up.”

“So you kissed me...to shut me up,” Maria repeats with a laugh.

“E-exactly!” Cordovin straightens up and smoothes down her uniform. When she’s deemed herself presentable, she opens the door. “Please grab your luggage and get the hell out of here already.”

Maria turns to grab her jacket, still laughing, then walks to the door. Before she leaves she leans close to Cordovin and whispers into her ear. “Next time work on your technique!”

She shuffles away before Cordovin can hit her, and tells herself that she’ll have to do this again next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it! Please consider leaving a kudos and/or nice words :)


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